I've noticed we have a few musicians in the house.. as a fellow musician, i'm interested in what instruments you play, style, gear, any good gig stories? i'll go.

I play bass... been playing for 25+ years or so... started out in blues/jazz.. moved onto R&B, tried my hand in an original rock band in spokane for a bit.. Actually had the #1 song in spain for 8 weeks.. did a little touring, opened up for a few big names.. Now i'm in Tri Cities, envolved in a Rock N Roll project.. we do everything from Sabbath and Saliva to Foo Fighters and Smashing pumkins and everything in between.

My favorite show i think, was opening for Buddy Guy at the Big Easy in Spokane... just to share the stage with a blues legend, and talk shop with him back stage was truly life altering.. He told me (Jokingly of course), if his current bass player hadn't been with him for 30 years he'd take me on the road with him that night.. He's a very cool dude.. He is one of my Dad's favorite blues artist, and too present my dad with an autographed pic addressed to him was one of my happier moments as a musician.

My current stage set up consists of Fender Bassman 300 tube amp. running it through an Avatar T153 and a Avatar 2x10.. my main bass is an American Fender Deluxe 5 string...

haven't figured out how to post pic's yet , but you can see the majority of my gear in my avatar...

I play bass (haven't in awhile), used to carry my acoustic Fender with me all the time. At home, I plugged it into my SWR LA series 15 and it sounded beastly.

Now a days I work on conjuring beats using a micro korg keyboard and FL Studio.

As far as stories go, the best time I had was back in HS when I was living in the midwest and playing basement shows. Too many sweaty naked dudes to count! My favorite show was playing with Dead to Fall, getting drunk with them afterwards, and finding things in our friends house and neighborhood to throw through a wood chipper. Pretty sure there are still warrants in Aberdeen, SD on the lot of us...boys will be boys.

Played guitar, bass, drums in various bands throughout high school. Currently drumming in a pop-punk band in Spokane that my friend and I started towards the end of our senior year, but now that we're all in college in different places it's been tough. We played most recently at an up-and-coming place called "The Kave". We've got a gig at Spokane Falls Community College on March 30th, which is a fundraiser to save their bowling alley. We plan on playing as many gigs as we can get this summer, possibly including a local festival, and have also talked about recording in a studio.

As far as guitars, I've got a Fender Deluxe Player's Strat (mexican-made), a Schecter C-1 Standard, and I very recently bought a Gibson Les Paul. For bass, I bought a terrible Ibanez from my buddy for $50. My drum kit is a cheap, crappy Sound Percussion 5-piece, but I've got a cool OCDP throne I really like. My friend basically gave me a Marshall bass half-stack, but it doesn't really work well due to some kind of electrical issue, so it's just taking up space and gathering dust in my garage at this point.

I guess the only half-decent story I can think of is that a few years ago I was in a cover band called "In Theory", and we were the first band to ever play at the venue "The Kave", a place I mentioned earlier. That place has been steadily growing in popularity, so I guess it's kinda cool to say we played there first, haha. Idk.

Tru2RedNGold25 wrote:Us as Niners fan have every right to rep Niners all day everyday when we have the hardware to back it up do can u guys say that???

I was the vocalist in a band when I lived in Phoenix, we played a few gigs in the desert with a generator keg parties with friends mostly. I played guitar but the other guys were both way better then me so I was forced to play bass because we could never find one.

I have a little studio in my garage with cubase and I do drums with a midi keyboard and a program called ez drummer. I have a thing for buying cheap guitars that play well and replacing the pickups. I have about 5 that play the most expensive or well known of them is a red acrylic BC Rich Warlock that I put EMG's in it. I have 3 Bass guitars but only one works which is a mongrel with active EMG's

I have a couple of old tube combos, a musicman and a vox from the 70's and a kick ass old Sunn bass head and cab.

I have a bucket full of old stomp boxes and mainly just play around with odd tunings blended thru a billion different effects. I can't read a note of music or know an E from a C from an A. I can tell when its in tune but to what key I have no idea my ears tell me when its right.

Proper musicians don't like me much, I can bring them a tape and they listen and think wow thats really cool, lets work on that and then get mad when I can't do it again or duplicate the sound So yeah its mostly just me in my garage, at the moment just working on writing music based on photos I have taken or poetry my friend writes.

Started singing in bands at 14. Got serious at 16. Our band Jinxx got on KISW with AIC and other then-local rock bands for a special promoting each band's music. Our song Lost In Emotions got on the rotation, and from there we were then put on a kid's TV show (Kids Week, late 80's kid-based show) showcasing us recording one of our songs in a studio (Steve Lawson or Bad Animals for you older local musicians). At some point some manager in NYC heard of us, sent a rep out to see if we sounded as good live as we did in the studio, then next thing we know we are moving to NYC at 19.

Manager ended up being a swindler, took all of our money, left us to fend for ourselves living on 125th Street in Harlem across from the projects (oh yes, we would have made a kick ass VH1 Behind The Scenes). We managed to keep it together, worked our asses off, and started promoting ourselves. Started gigging out, spreading the music and developed quite a following and buzz. Got on another radio show, and entered a contest with thousands of other bands within 300 miles of NYC and made it to the magazine's "Top Ten Best Local Bands" at #3.

From there, the industry caught wind of us as did KISS' Ace Frehley who watched one of our gigs, invited us to party with him and developed a huge crush on my sister. Everything came to a head on February 4th, 1990 when we performed our industry showcase at the then famed Cat Club for top A&R reps from Chrysalis, Atlantic, Polygram and a few other majors. Everything was perfect. The place was packed with fans, we rented stage lights and awesome sound and even had roadies. One problem. I had lost my sister to a car accident two months prior and my immune system was shot from the deep spiral I fell into. I didn't want to disappoint anybody (something I would regret later) and decided to still attempt to sing even with laryngitis. Whoops.

The band fragmented, half of us moved home, and once we came home we lost the spark to try to keep it going, nevermind the fact that rock had shifted to grunge, taking the world by storm.

Millions of memories I will forever cherish. Wouldn't change a thing.

Today, I'm a middle-aged, bald dude starting to find his voice again playing in a rock cover band comprised of neighbors of mine. The hair is long gone but the music lives on.

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There are three certainties in life. Death, taxes and the perpetual shuffling of the Seattle Seahawks offensive line.

Hah. My brush with some semblance of success with music was back in my country-rock days. Ran into the most idiotic string of bad luck, and at one point we were going through bass player deaths like we were redneck Spinal Tap. To peak, I got an invite to appear on the Charlie Daniels Talent Round-Up, for anyone who remembers THAT. Just about RIGHT before we were scheduled to come down and play on TV, the damn show got cancelled.

Instead, we ended up doing an hour-long show on Public Access, hah. Key point of THAT was our lead guitar player starting the wrong damn song during a close-up of my face CLEARLY inquiring, "The f#$@ are you doing?!"

Then we started offing bass players and getting involved with crazy women and the Rest. Is History.

I play guitar and bass primarily and mess around with mandolin and drums. Had some cover bands in college and have written some original material on a little 8-track since, but I'm pretty much a solo act/hobbyist these days.

Aros wrote:Thanks fellas. It was a massive part of my life that I miss. Seems like millions of years ago and just yesterday all at once.

agreed, very cool ... i remember those nights sleeping in bowling alleys, and groupies couches. or in the van, scraping for food, and gas to get to the next gig, that oh so close next big break.. a lot of good memories, it is who i am.. where the passion to create has gone, the passion to still play has not, and is strong as ever.. now in my mid 40's, i'm very blessed to be able to still go out on the weekends and make some noise with some very talented musicians..

Aros wrote:Thanks fellas. It was a massive part of my life that I miss. Seems like millions of years ago and just yesterday all at once.

agreed, very cool ... i remember those nights sleeping in bowling alleys, and groupies couches. or in the van, scraping for food, and gas to get to the next gig, that oh so close next big break.. a lot of good memories, it is who i am.. where the passion to create has gone, the passion to still play has not, and is strong as ever.. now in my mid 40's, i'm very blessed to be able to still go out on the weekends and make some noise with some very talented musicians..

Yeah it definitely defines a part of our Souls as musicians. Oh the stories I'm sure we all could tell. I wish I could have made it big in my early twenties because Lord knows I wouldn't have the drive, energy or determination to go on a World Tour now.

There are three certainties in life. Death, taxes and the perpetual shuffling of the Seattle Seahawks offensive line.

i don't think people who write and/or produce hip hop is lazy. i do actually consider them artist, but it drives me fricken nuts when they are introduced as musicians...

unless you actually physically play an instrument, you are not a musician.. if all you do is sing you are not a musician. ...if you spin turntables you are not a musician.... if you are a drummer, well then you hang out with musicians (joke)....

musicians create music through instruments, not pre-recorded music... if rappers want to be considered musicians, then go pick up a 1.79 kazoo or mouth harp, and throw some of them tracks in your mix, now you're cooking with oil....

I always invite guitarists to take a seat behind my drums and I pick up the guitar. Something miraculous happens. They realize they stink, and that the drums are more of an instrument than the guitar, (which I have been playing for 20 years)...The joke is on them.

Artistry is artistry, musicianship and DJ are not in the same category.

Last edited by Largent80 on Mon Mar 04, 2013 3:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Music is music. You might not like it, but it's still music. Comes in many forms. go listen to 'Hot Poop' or 'The chrome-plated megaphone of destiny' by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention and tell me if you think it qualifies as music. It does. I'm not really into most rap or hip-hop music, but I respect the guys who do it and do it well, I respect the technicians creating interesting beats and I think it's just as much music as anything else is. craft is craft. Get over yourselves.

Music is music. You might not like it, but it's still music. Comes in many forms. go listen to 'Hot Poop' or 'The chrome-plated megaphone of destiny' by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention and tell me if you think it qualifies as music. It does. I'm not really into most rap or hip-hop music, but I respect the guys who do it and do it well, I respect the technicians creating interesting beats and I think it's just as much music as anything else is. craft is craft. Get over yourselves.

Music is music. You might not like it, but it's still music. Comes in many forms. go listen to 'Hot Poop' or 'The chrome-plated megaphone of destiny' by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention and tell me if you think it qualifies as music. It does. I'm not really into most rap or hip-hop music, but I respect the guys who do it and do it well, I respect the technicians creating interesting beats and I think it's just as much music as anything else is. craft is craft. Get over yourselves.